Opinion

You learned it in grade school. You said it from time to time to time. Too bad you didn’t absorb it.

I’m rubber, and you’re glue. What you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

Wouldn’t it be so much better in the world if that were true for all of us, if the worrisome words we heard just bounced off and went right back to the source to be absorbed anew, carrying with them a lesson of truth and humanity for all of us?

They may stand by kettles ringing bells, bundle up against the cold to deliver food and gifts. They may work hard year around to collect nickels and dimes to buy coats for those who need them or just show up for an event and throw out cash for a good cause.

We were pleased to read last week that state transportation officials now believe the Shelbyville Bypass likely will be completed by Labor Day of 2010.

We would not have believed that forecast if it had come from the project’s contractors, Kay And Kay Contracting. That company’s owner – Bill Robinson – told us in August that its work was about 80 percent complete.

On a cold, blowy, darkest of nights, I was awakened with a start by a presence in my room, not that of a child or a pet or even a Japanese beetle but of something the likes of which I’d never seen, sort of an eerie being that seemed to loom.

He arrived not in Victorian bedclothes but in a work uniform with his name on his breast, his face creased with hard work and palms rough but strong, many muscles rippling in his chest.

A man was walking down the street when he saw a sign outside a shop that read, “Talking Dog for Sale.”

Intrigued, he entered the store to learn more. Though he was more than a bit skeptical and felt very foolish for doing so, he addressed the dog directly. “So, what have you done with your life?” he asked.

When you rob a small business – when you rob ME – you are doing more than just taking the cash necessary to acquire your fix.

When you rob a small business you are, first and foremost, violating a sacred space. This shop is built on my dreams and, literally, on my blood, sweat and tears. This shop is my child. I have created it, grown it, nurtured and fed it. I love it. And you hurt it – which makes me angry and also hurts me.

Psychologists have long debated the root causes of our behaviors. There are some who say that our actions are primarily the result of the genes we have inherited from our parents, while others contend that they are mostly the result of our environment and the way we are raised.

Though the idea that Harley-Davidson may build a large plant in Shelby County to replace its operations in southern Pennsylvania is for now just that – an idea – those of us who live in Shelby are feeling a jolt of excitement that such a respected, stable company is considering our proud homeland for a new facility.

With unemployment hitting 11 percent statewide, many of the employed losing salary and benefits, with dozens of houses falling to foreclosure and many others sitting unoccupied, this ne

School children swarm the downtown area like bees to honey each fall when the Fountain Committee volunteers describe historic sites. The field trips have been going on for more than 15 years and provide hands-on, real-life connections to the core content about community or state history.

The final words of rejection and consolation barely had been spoken in the county’s pursuit of Harley-Davidson when Shelby County Fiscal Court proved that it could squeeze some lemonade out of that batch of lemons.

The court went into special session Monday morning and rescinded its request for a zoning change on acreage near the Shelby County Industrial Park.

If you believe that statistics don’t lie – and even the most circumspect among us surely do to some extent – then you have to be amazed at the recent report on Shelby County’s efficiency in disposing of DUI cases.

That better than 92 percent of those charged were convicted during a 4-year period is a significant statement both to those who consider driving after drinking and for those who make sure such drivers are caught when they do.

Thanksgiving is our truest and most intrinsic holiday, with a simple, shared message created from the pioneer spirit and carried forward by loyal generations: to join hands, share a meal and say thanks for each other and all our blessings.

The pilgrims and the Native Americans got it right in the first place, and with its position after Halloween and before Christmas, Thanksgiving has been allowed to be wonderfully obscured and its noble mission preserved without the clutter and clatter of c